"We're All Rookies"

Today marks the 7 week anniversary of my internship with Local Food Project. 7 weeks before starting here I had the very first farming experience of my life--for less than two hours, I picked garlic with friends at a nearby farm. As I paused to stretch my stiffening back and wipe beads of sweat from my brow, I reflected on my newfound appreciation for the demands of farming and made a firm decision that farming is not for me. 

The following week I visited the Local Food Project at Airlie and helped pull weeds, which was surprisingly enjoyable. Wandering around the garden and briefly exploring the grounds of Airlie, I wondered-- what is this place? I knew I wanted to come back.

When the opportunity arose to intern here, I found a place to crash for a while and thought I'd give LFP a try for a couple weeks. On my first day, Pablo mentioned something about giving me my own space to garden independently. I gently reminded him, "You know I'm a rookie, right?" Pablo's response: "We're all rookies." Nearly two months have passed, and I'm still happily interning here.

Some highlights so far:

My first week was filled with weeding overgrown sweet potato beds. It was a daunting task, but it was a good way to start because after that everything felt more fun.

Finding and killing my first hornworm was a monumental occasion. Ben had warned me about them and pointed them out several times, but it took me a while to independently spot one. Ever since I developed an eye for them it feels like I see hornworms everywhere--they've even visited me in my dreams at night.

One week we individually added compost to each squash and melon plant. It was well worth it--their boost in growth was visible after the weekend.

LFP hosted a Harvest Dinner on September 7th. It was refreshing to swap out my Chacos and dirt-stained t-shirt for a dress and lounge in the garden, sipping wine as the sun set. Airlie chefs set up a makeshift kitchen in the garden and prepared our meal outside. Almost all of the food before us was cultivated by someone sitting at this dinner table, sharing this meal. We enjoyed delicious dishes and compelling conversation by candlelight, with the Big Dipper illuminating the night sky overhead.

Visiting Jo-Ann Fabrics and selecting fine materials to make flags for the corn maze. We picked red, yellow, blue and green fabrics for the flags--and a cash money print as a little lagniappe. Using bamboo, t posts and twine, we set up four flag poles throughout the corn maze and began brainstorming game ideas for Airlie guests.

Being a city girl, the thrill of riding in the back of a pickup truck never dulls. In anticipation of the end of the season, we cleared the garden of row covers, folded them, and loaded them in the bed of Pablo's truck. We piled ourselves on top of the fluffy row covers for a cozy ride through Airlie. A slightly less comfortable but nonetheless fun ride was transporting the revered sixteen foot ladder to the garden--Ben and I holding it in place by sitting on it.

We used broadforks to clear the family garden. We redefined the rows, mixed in compost, and planted lettuce seeds. Pablo's instructions for appropriately distributing the seeds: "A little thick, A little not too thick." It made sense.

And finally, welcome rain has arrived!

Fresh Vegetables Five Stories Up

These lucky vegetables have quite a view. Only a block away from the hustle and bustle of M Street, the crops planted on the rooftop of this five-story building in Georgetown overlook all of Washington. They also have produced pounds of delicious eggplant, cherry tomatoes, basil, and parsley in a typically undervalued and underutilized urban space.

Most people who stroll by on the sidewalk below or eat lunch on the restaurant patios at ground level would never guess that the roof of this building provides fresh food to the people who live and work inside it. For the past several seasons, the Local Food Project has demonstrated the potential to grow food in small spaces with our 9 by 14-foot Parking Space Garden. Now we are exploring other ways to garden in space-constrained environments. LFP’s new initiative this season—the Georgetown Rooftop Food Project—answers the call to make local food even more local by growing it right in the city.

Standing among the raised beds of  the Georgetown Rooftop Food Project (or GRFP for short), its urban location is impossible to forget. Airplanes roar overhead as they take off and land at Reagan National Airport. The Washington Monument and Air Force Memorial jut up from the city’s signature low skyline. Children laugh and yell in the yard of a neighboring preschool and rooftop exhaust fans rattle constantly. But there’s also a special peace that comes with the high-altitude breeze and gives this garden an air of possibility. If vegetables and herbs can be grown on this roof, why not others? And if people enjoy the flavor and freshness of this produce, what does that signify for their relationships to other kinds of food? And how can projects like this one encourage more urban residents to eat locally produced food and even grow some of their own?

As summer draws to a close and fall winds blow in, we’ll continue to harvest the bounty at GRFP. We’ll also be thinking about what might come next for this elevated garden in the city. If you have ideas or want to check it out, let us know!